Giving Away $100 Every Month Here on The Blog :)

In an effort to have more fun here, give back more, and of course drum up some good buzz for the blog (how can you beat giving away cash money to your readers???) we’re going to be handing out a crisp $100 bill to one lucky reader every month until we either run out or change our minds :)

The only rules?

You must be signed up to our blog newsletter to be entered (sign up here if you’re not already)

You must tell us how you’ll spend it if you win :)

Out of curiosity I asked people on twitter what they would do if I gave them all an extra $100, and their answers were as varied as they were smart. I forget we’re all nerds about this stuff, haha…

Yeah, that’s me too. I’ve got a list of “medium-ticket” items on Amazon that I order as finances permit (generally once a pay period). Though I find that if I put them aside, then come back to them, I tend to re-evaluate how badly I actually want/need them!

I would use it the same as I do any other extra cash that I come across. Out current financial plan already has dictated what we will do with additional money sot hat I don’t have to think about it when it happen to come. 10% is given to tithing to our church, 45% goes to the principle on our mortgage, and the remaining 45% goes to Vanguard (probably VTSAX).

Having a plan worked out well ahead of plan is so helpful in situations line this.

Vanguard Healthcare Index. This has been a pillar of my Roth IRA for years. No matter what happens in Congress, we are getting older and will all need more healthcare. Plus, the
Population is growing and babies have to be delivered. Prenatal care. Well Baby Checkups. Pediatrician care. At all parts of the age spectrum, the healthcare industry makes money.

I also use this healthcare fund as a way to hedge the overall market movements, it’s one of only 4 funds that I hold. The last year it was a little rocky but I’m glad to see that it’s starting to come back up. I also invested in it with the belief that, no matter what else happens, we all know that medical costs aren’t going down. glad to see I’m not alone in my thought processes.

Non-budgeted income tends to go into my mortgage account for principal. I would put half in there, and buy a video game with the other half. I don’t tend to buy those very often (my newest is PS3 Skyrim with all DLC) and it would be an unusual item. Eating out and buying books and other readable materials is in my budget so they are not “special things”. Buying something I ordinarily would not is.

I’d use it to pay for my son’s tuition next year. We’ve decided to send him to private school, but my husband’s income dropped dramatically since we made that decision. And every little bit of money helps.

T$ would put this nugget towards paying off my truck. I have been hustling at $1000 a month to get this paid off. It is planned to September or sooner payoff date. Once that is done, I plan of “snowballing” the truck payment to my student loan, 4 years payoff on that. Then I will be debt free except the house. *Full Disclosure* after truck is paid off, I will be investing $250/mth into good ole vanguard indexes to help get to my happy place sooner.

Actually splurge on a special gift for myself since I am the one that budgets…doles out the weekly stipend to family… takes care of all things finically I think I should spurge on..nothing..can’t do it..I’ll most likely end up adding it to savings account
Hey! It’s a $100 more I had t counted on!

We went over budget by about 100 bucks in our restaurant category this month after my sister in law came to visit my husband and me (yes, I’m totally blaming her ;). So I would use that money to go out to eat again. I kid, I kid. I would put that money straight into savings to help me feel better about blowing that budget category!

As much as I would like to say that I would do something just for me (which I very rarely get to with a family of 8 plus pets), I would put it in the savings account (the one at a separate bank where it is out of sight out of mind).

Hmm, if I had $100. Gosh, this is like the #GivingCard conundrum all over again. I would definitely do something charitable with it. We have a large population of mentally ill and homeless people in our city. I’ve always wanted to make “blessing bags” and hand them out. Instead of giving people money, you fill bags with toiletries, snacks, water, and a resource guide for local shelters and government programs. With $100 I could make quite a few bags. :)

Hi J I am unemployed currently and I would invest in a forex trading account, this could change my life and others around me forever as I want to share my knowledge of forex trading with other under privileged youth help them turn their lives around.

How generous of you! We’re more than a bit behind on retirement, so I would sock it into the Roth. Every extra dollar is going to fund this right now because for us, time is getting short for that compounding magic to happen.

I’d either save it for a special investment purchase I have in mind, or if my favorite charity has located a building they want to buy, I’ll plunk it in their capital campaign. (Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg – they provide free bikes and repairs to the community, register serial numbers so cops can retrieve stolen bikes, and teach everyone how to do their own basic repairs. It’s the best possible bang for a transportation buck for those without a car, and no bike leaves without working brakes.)

Hi all,
I would put the $100 towards my “minimalism project”. I’m getting rid of all the extra stuff and expenses! I plan to move from a $1400/month apartment to a studio around $800, so I’m saving up for the app fees, deposit, moving help (aka pizza for friends)…etc. The car is going for sale and selling/donating all the things I don’t need/use regularly. I’m finally ready to start my journey to being financially independent and stop having to work so much just to get by and pay for things that don’t serve me or my future. Thanks J.Money!

I’d remind myself that Uncle Sam gets a portion. The rest would be split between the allowance funds I have set up for the wife and I. We use those to get anything we want that doesn’t fall into a defined category on the budget. That would almost double the monthly amount.

I signed up! Been working on paying off my debt (car and student loan) I would put it toward a future car loan payment! That would be very helpful. Also I am loving the quote at the bottom of the post, this is really the only financial budgeting blog I regularly check and take advice from! Thanks J Money for all that you do

I’d put it towards our mortgage! Working hard to get that paid off within the next year or so. I have some medical issues (chronic and expensive $$$) so it’s become very important to us to lower our expenses and be able to live off one income in case it’s needed. Then we can put everything towards savings/giving/fun :) And medical/health of course.

We have been paying cash for my daughter’s tuition so that she won’t have student loans when she gets out. Therefore, this would go straight to tuition, just like every other dime we can get our hands on right now!

I would start my retirement fund and then at the age of 65 I would retire with $442 and then I’d go back to work two days later after my retirement was over and tell everyone of the adventures I had during my retirement; they’ll be so jelly.

Or I’d buy $100 worth of Slim Jim’s and then sit on an overpass and watch cars go by and wish I had done something different with my $100, like $100 worth of ice cream and beer.

Actually I’d probably buy 20 Little Caesars pizzas just so the 17 year old at the counter can stare back at me and say, “I don’t know you, but as soon as you walked in the door I knew I hated you.” Then I would drive through the neighborhood and throw pizzas out the window of my car to the children of the world. I’d be Pizza Oprah.

Or maybe I’d buy $100 worth of goldfish, I believe they go for .19 cents each so I’m looking at a little over 500 gold fish. I would go home and then tell my girlfriend that I bought her 500 gold fish and she would be super impressed. Man that would be the best Friday ever.

Or instead of gold fish I’ll buy three turtles and then as soon as I get out of the pet store I’ll place them on the ground and tell them that they are free to return to the wild.

Or I’d take my Ben Franklin to the bank and say, I need to exchange this for quarters. As soon as they are done counting my 400 quarters I’d say, “did I say quarters, I meant 20’s.”

I would buy something pretty for myself … perhaps some new perfume for the spring/summer season. something light and sweet — that I could wear often and feel and also smell like a billion bucks even though I only $100.00. :)

This is a fun giveaway idea! If I win, I’ll use part of the money for a Half Marathon race entry. My husband was laid off from his job six months ago, and hasn’t been able to find another yet. We’re so glad we had built a strong emergency fund for just such a time as this! Even so, we’re still living lean, which means no extra stuff -like race entries- for awhile.

I live in Australia but would love you to donate the $100 if I won to KIVA. You would get to choose 4 x $25 gifts to someone in need and then could reinvest it back to someone else when they repaid the loan. Win/ Win all round. Yvonne

Kiva is great – used to have like $500 in there for yearrrrs until i finally pulled it out to re-invest in my own projects. They totally changed the game with entrepreneurship & charity though – love it.

I got a gift card at work, from a manager in a different department as an unexpected thank you for being very helpful and am not sure what to spend it on. I earmarked money from my bonus for shoes (1.5-2 years of wear, it’s time), so it could go towards that, or maybe a nice dinner?

Since I already have trouble deciding what to do with ‘my’ money, if you gave me $100, I’d donate it to an animal shelter to cover adoption, or spay/neuter fees.

If I had an extra $100 in April, I would throw it in my vacation fund. Any other month and it would go toward my mortgage – but this month my tax refund is going there, so I’d divert bonus money to the vacation fund – destination TBD!

Signed up a long time ago. Thanks for all the awesome content, sharing it with family and friends. You helped my brother and me get a better understanding of finances and money. Along with Affordanything.com :)
I would spend 100$ this way: set up a landing page for a consulting gig. Spend 100$ on Google adds to get business. When successful, quit job, and become self-employed!

Not sure what I’d do with it. Seems like most unexpected monies simply go into the checking account and disappear into the normal workings of our home, but maybe we would use it for a night out. Our anniversary happened during a really busy time and we haven’t actually celebrated yet. :)

Avid reader and supporter.. Through your blog I have branched out into almost all of the available side hustles in my area.. Kudos!

I’ll admit getting into mystery shopping has been a little of a challenge compared to most, however I’ve found as I get involved with each individual company, I’ve found a new company to sign up with.. Overall I think I’ve increased my total income (26,000) almost 5% through mystery shopping alone!

So on to what I would do.. As I’ve read and learned and read more and no surprise, learned more I think I would take the $100 and invest it into RobinHood. It’s something I’ve always wanted to dabble into but I’ve never had the extra money to dedicate this to.. And don’t get me wrong I’m all too aware that $100 isn’t going to go miles.. but over the last year I’ve been watching stocks I’ve noticed a few that have done nothing but climbed.. So after being so good with budgeting, why not reward myself in doing something adventurous!?

$100 or not.. Thank you for all you continue to contribute to your readers.. I can say without a doubt you’ve changed my life for the better.. Keep it sexy J. Money!

J Money, thank you for your articles and insipration. I have always lived from paycheck to paycheck until sometime in 2015 (yes that is how late I was to the ‘savers cult), I came across an article on Forbes about a blogger who socked away 400k in 7 years. I brushed it aside at first and told myself, ‘I’m not making much a year so I cant save’, I was born in a poor family so I will never be rich, blah blah, excuse after excuse. Didn’t save the whole of 2005. In January 2016 I looked at y account and I had -$20 in my checking and $200 in my savings, I then became serious and religiously read your articles. I was making 34k at the time. I signed up for my work 401k and IRA. Started working hard, got a raise and now I’m making 37 k a year before taxes (which is not a lot of money in Chicago). Last year I saved $10k. This year I’m targeting $20k in savings. I started side hustles and right now I also work as a dishwasher on weekends (I use the dishwashing money for utilities, transport and food). For my rent I use money from 9-5 job. I have 18k in savings in 15 months. Long story short, that $100 will go in my emergency fund! Hope I make sense, English is my second language.

Woahhh – talk about a comeback, man! I love this on so many levels! Much more impressive than my financial rise. You keep this up and you’ll pass me in no time :) Really enjoyed reading this – thank you.

As with all “extra money” that we get, I’d put half towards our credit card and save half towards our vacation savings so we can take the kids to Mexico this year! Thanks to the opportunity to win! Looking forward to the emails, too! :)

I signed up again – always kept reading but just couldn’t commit to the newsletter coming every darn day to remind me “get your sexy J $$$ dollars going”. But I’m back.
I would give my $100 to my local Food Bank. Because there are so many in such great need! I can’t possibly reach them all – hell – I can’t even reach 1/bazillionith! By donating to a recognized charity my $100 will go much further than I could hope to make it go. It makes me very sad and ashamed that a country like ours can’t take care of people who most need our help. So I’d help quietly by making an anonymous donation, and match it with $100 of my own.

I would use it to defray the cost of the trip I’m currently on: a visit to my dad in Florida. He’s 81 and I’d rather go for a visit than a funeral. Used frequent flier miles on the way down but didn’t have enough for a round-trip ticket — and any ticket from Alaska is gonna be a spendy one.

Bonus: My sister arrives tomorrow and my brother the day after that. One-stop-shopping!

Loving this giveaway idea, and the blog in general. Lurked for a long time, but this was just too good not to subscribe to the newsletter.

This $100 would definitely go towards the mortgage. My wife and I actively set aside lump sum payments towards the principal which. It feels good not only to see the principal drop drastically, but the impact it has on the principal:interest ratio is also encouraging to keep chipping away.

I’d treat myself to a haircut because I am on a new direction in life, one decided by myself when I endured major surgery 2/28 and developed a complication that meant 4 extra weeks off work, 10 instead of expected 6 wks. I haven’t had a haircut, not even a from in 14 months. I deserve it don’t I? It would mean so much. This surgery was hard on me. I was scared. My boyfriend of 11 years lives 1 mie from hospital but didn’t come visit me. I was heartbroken. I need a change and a haircut is the best way to show an outward sign of the inner me that overcame the operation.

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I, J. Money, only claim the thoughts from my head. I am not a banker, CPA, money manager or anything else of that sort. Please seek a professional for any "real" advice. More info: privacy & disclosure page